Chapter 69 Jada
With a final wave at Bryce, I walked inside the house, ready for Glamma to ask me how the date had gone.
But she had fallen asleep in her recliner.
A game show played on the TV while her reading glasses slid down her nose, and her newspaper, folded to the section with her sudoku puzzle, lay across her lap, pen somewhere in the chair or the folds of her muumuu.
Snores passed softly through her lips, barely audible over a contestant’s cheering on the television.
Emotion rose up in my throat, forming a lump as I carefully took the newspaper and pen, setting them on top of the pile on her side table. Then I grabbed a throw blanket from the back of the couch and spread it over her legs.
Then I sat for a moment on the couch, eyes glazing over as I looked at the TV. When I was younger, Glamma and I would shout our guesses at the screen, heckle the contestants, even though Peggy from middle-of-nowhere Kansas had no chance of hearing us or changing her answer.
Glamma let out a particularly loud snore, like she could hear me thinking about her, and I snapped out of my trance. I got up, moving around to clear her pretty piles from the surfaces around the house.
Her date book lay open at the bottom of a pile of mail, and when I picked it up, I noticed something written in red under a date later this week.
Knee Replacement Consultation.
My eyebrows drew together. Glamma had told me her appointment with Dr. Martins went fine. A knee replacement didn’t sound fine.
I had half a mind to wake her up, but since I knew that wouldn’t end well for either of us, I picked up the phone and called Bryce.
He answered after a single ring. “Miss me already?” There was a smile in his tone.
“What did Glamma tell you about her appointment with Dr. Martins?” I asked, cutting to the point.
Sounding confused, he replied, “She said, and I quote, ‘Doc told me you and Jada are a couple of worrywarts who don’t understand old knees.’ I assume she was paraphrasing... Why?”
Looking down at her date book, reading her careful cursive, I said, “I think she’s looking into a knee replacement.”
“What? Why?”
When I told him about the notebook, he was quiet for a moment before saying, “Maybe she just didn’t want to worry you before she had more information?”
I looked over at my Glamma, snoring softly. “Seems like all I do is worry about her lately.”
“She worries about you too,” he said gently. “She wanted to make sure I’d take care of you.”
My lips lifted slightly as I moved back toward my bedroom. “What did you say to that?”
“I said, ‘Jada’s a grown woman who can handle herself and doesn’t need a man.’”
I narrowed my eyes, even though he couldn’t see me. “What did you really say?”
He chuckled. “That I’d do everything in my power to treat you, and our daughter, like a princess or risk being haunted by her very well-dressed ghost.”
I laughed at that. “I’m sure that made her happy.”
“It seemed to at least delay further threats of haunting.”
I smiled to myself, sitting down on my bed.
It was crazy to think that a whole team of movers and designers were currently working overtime to get our new house prepared so we could move in after the wedding.
This would be one of my last night’s sleeping in this bedroom, walking in to hear my grandma’s snoring.
“A lot on your mind tonight,” Bryce commented.
“A lot on my mind since I met you,” I replied.
He was quiet for a moment. “It’s funny, because the only thing on my mind is how good it’s going to feel to call you my wife.”
My heart stuttered. “Not too much longer now.”
“Can’t come soon enough,” he replied.
We said our good-nights, and I got ready for bed, replaying the day in my mind and wondering how different my life would soon be.
I hope no matter how different, it would still be good.
I snuggled under the covers, wanting to savor this night. But then my phone went off with a notification.
$650,000 has been added to your checking account.
Jude: More to come if you don’t get married.